Parents and teachers who use IEW’s approach to teaching writing love it. Structure and Style®️ provides the direction and framework, making the job of teaching writing concrete and enjoyable for instructor and student alike. But invariably with teaching written expression comes the need to evaluate the same, and instructors must wrestle with how much direction to provide.
Fortunately, IEW has resources that will help you discern how to assess your students’ papers so that you are able to provide positive feedback that empowers them to grow their writing skills. In Marking and Grading, Andrew Pudewa shares his thoughts about how to edit so that educators can create a “culture of cooperation which will nurture and encourage students while ensuring that they acquire basic abilities and an attention to detail that will serve them throughout life.”
Another resource by Andrew Pudewa that will further enable you to help your students is the 4 Deadly Errors of Teaching Writing. During this classic audio presentation, one of the “errors” he addresses is overcorrecting an assignment. Especially good to listen to in the summer before starting up your teaching in the fall, this talk will help you begin your year confidently.
In addition to these two resources, a recent blog post contributed by Jill Pike and reprinted below shows what editing skills look like in action during an imagined interaction between a teacher and a student:
My least favorite task as a writing teacher is grading papers. Math is easy; there is one and only one right answer. Compositions, however, are mostly subjective. The grammar and spelling rules are pretty cut and dried, but there are an infinite number of ways that something may be said, and some are better than others. How do I help my writers mature without crushing them? Here are a few suggestions, gleaned from countless articles by Andrew Pudewa:
- Find something to affirm.
- If it is legal, let it be.
- Edit with a smile, not a lecture.
- Help as much as needed.
How does this look in practice? Here is a paragraph a teacher sent me that her elementary student had submitted. She wasn’t sure how best to help him fix it.
The first president came from plain common people. He was a hero of the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812. He was born in the backwoods of the Carolinas in 1767. He fought against the British in the American Revolution he was captured by a British officer ordered to shine his boots he bravely refused so the officer slashed his face with a sword. Which left a scar on his face. He hated the officer for the rest of his life.
Here is the conversation that I would have had with the student to help him fix it:
I like your paragraph! You did a great job making the outline and writing the paragraph. Let’s read through it and make sure it is okay.
The first president came from plain common people.
That is a nice complete sentence, but I have a question: Is this talking about the first president of the United States, George Washington? (Oops, no.) How about just adding the president’s name, like this: Andrew Jackson was the first president who came from plain common people. Yes? Wonderful. Let’s read on.
He was a hero of the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812. He was born in the backwoods of the Carolinas in 1767.
Both perfect!
He fought against the British in the American Revolution he was captured by a British officer ordered to shine his boots he bravely refused so the officer slashed his face with a sword.
Whew! I think I needed to take a few more breaths while reading that. I think you just forgot to put in a few periods. Where do you think they should be?
He fought against the British in the American Revolution. He was captured by a British officer [add ‘and’ here] ordered to shine his boots. He [Maybe we should identify Jackson again instead of just saying ‘he’?] bravely refused [add a comma here] so the officer slashed his face with a sword.
That is much better! Great -ly adverb, by the way.
Which left a scar on his face.
Hmm. I am afraid that your which is under arrest. It stole the sentence! A which clause needs to be added to a complete sentence; it can't stand alone. Can we just put a comma at the end of the last sentence and then continue with this one? That would make it: ... slashed his face with a sword, which left a scar on his face. Phew! The which doesn’t have to go to jail. [giggle] Now, what is left?
He hated the officer for the rest of his life.
Perfect! You have all three dress-ups, so you are good to go. Copy it neatly for your final draft. Well done!
The student and the teacher both leave this editing session happy. The teacher comes away realizing that additional lessons on adding who/which clauses and on antecedents will be helpful, but they don’t need to be addressed here. Reserve new teaching for future writing lessons. The goal of editing is to just make things legal.
The most important thing to remember is to do this with a smile. Your student is not trying to be lazy or purposely forgetting all the things you have taught. Learning to write is like learning to drive a car; it is incredibly complex! Fortunately, you are not risking your life when you sit down to edit with a student writer. Sit back and smile. It will all come together over time.
Don’t let yourself or your students be intimidated by the red pen! As you prepare for the upcoming school year, listen to the audio talk to learn how to avoid the four “deadly errors,” read the article to help with grading, and equip yourself to help your students further their writing skills.
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